Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R Benne

Publications and source records attributed to R Benne.

85 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Purification and characterization of initiation factor IF-E2 from rabbit reticulocytes.

Initiation factor IF-E2 was isolated from rabbit reticulocytes and purified 120-fold to near homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation, column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and phosphocellulose, and, when suitable, by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The factor is a complex protein containing three nonidentical polypeptides of molecular weight 57,000, 52,000, and 36,000. It behaves as a complex throughout its purification and during polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in nondenaturing buffer but its thress components are readily separated by electrophoresis in denaturing buffers. None of its components corresponds to any of the polypeptides of the other initiation factors or to any proteins of ribosomes washed in buffers containing a high salf concentration. A stoichiometric ratio of 1:1:1 was determined for the three polypeptides; based on the assumption of one copy each per complex, the calculated factor molecular weight is 145,000, a value in agreement with the measured value of 160,000. Initiation factor IF-E2 was radioactively labeled in vitro by reductive alkylation or by phosphorylation with a protein kinase also isolated from rabbit reticulocytes. Neither procedure causes a measurable change in the ability of the factor to form a ternary complex with GTP and the initiator methionyl-tRNA. 5'-Guanylyl-methylenediphosphonate may substitute for GTP, but only at relatively high concentrations. The binding of labeled initiation factor IF-E2 and methionyl-tRNA to the 40 S ribosomal subunit was studied by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Appreciable binding of the factor is seen only when all three components of the ternary complex are included in the reaction mixture. The binding of either the factor or methionyl-tRNA was not stimulated by the addition of globin messenger RNA and initiation factor IF-E3. It was shown that all three polypeptide components of initiation factor IF-E2 are bound to these nascent initiation complexes.

Animals↗

Phosphorylation in vitro of eukaryotic initiation factors IF-E2 and IF-E3 by protein kinases.

Purified protein synthesis initiation factors IF-E2 and IF-E3 from rabbit reticulocytes were phosphorylated in vitro with protein kinases isolated from the same source. The highest levels of phosphorylation resulted from incubation of the factors with a cyclic nucleotide-independent protein kinase previously shown to have specificity for acidic proteins. The extent of phosphorylation of initiation factor IF-E2 was between 0.3 and 0.4 mol of phosphate per mol of factor complex, with either ATP or GTP as phosphoryl donor. Initiation factor IF-E2 is composed of three nonidentical polypeptides; only the polypeptide with a molecular weight of 52,000 was phosphorylated. The extent of phosphorylation of initiation factor IF-E3 was between 0.7 and 1.0 mol of phosphate per mol of factor complex with GTP as phosphoryl donor; with ATP, less phosphorylation of the factor was obtained. Initiation factor IF-E3 is composed of 9 to 11 nonidentical polypeptides; only 2 of these, with molecular weights of 120,000 and 70,000, were phosphorylated. A lower level of phosphorylation of initiation factor IF-E3 was found with the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase; the polypeptide of molecular weight 140,000 was the major site of phosphorylation.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Purification and characterization of initiation factor IF-E3 from rabbit reticulocytes.

Initiation factor IF-E3 from rabbit reticulocytes was isolated from a high salf extract of ribosomes prepared according to the procedure of Schreier and Staehelin (J. Mol9 Biol, 73, 329-349, 1973). The factor was highly purified from the crude extract by ammonium sulfate fractionation, sucrose gradient centrifugation, salf gradient elution from DEAE-cellulose and phosphocellulose columns, and glycerol gradient centrifugation. IF-E3 stimulated cell-free protein synthesis dependent on an exogenous globin mRNA fraction 4- to 5-fold. The factor under nondenaturing conditions behaved as a large multipolypeptide complex, but was separated into 11 major protein components by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with urea and sodium dodecyl sulfate. The stoichiometry and molecular weights (range: 28,000-140,000) of the IF-E3 proteins were determined. None of the components corresponded to ribosomal proteins found in high salt-washed ribosomes. 14CH3-IF-E3 was prepared by reductive alkylation without detectable loss of its initiation factor activity, and bound stoichiometrically to 40S ribosomal subunits, but not to 60S or 80S ribosomes. 14CH3-IF-E3 isolated from the 40S complex contained only nine of the 11 original protein components.

Animals↗

The role of IF-3 in the translation of T7- and phi80trp messenger RNA.

The DNA dependent synthesis of proteins was studied with a system composed of DNA, washed ribosomes, centrifuged (150,000 X g) bacterial extract from Escherichia coli and purified initiation factors IF-1 and IF-2. Synthesis of active enzymes encoded by the tryptophan (trp)-operon of E. coli was found to depend strongly on the addition of IF-3, with the same IF-3 dependency for all 5 gene-products of this operon, irrespective of the presence of the promotor proximal gene trpE. Synthesis of T7 RNA polymerase with T7 DNA as a template, however, was completely independent of the addition of IF-3. The same difference in IF-3 requirement was found when we compared the overall protein synthesis directed by these templates. This difference could be related to the effect of IF-3 on the formation of initiation complexes with the in vitro prepared mRNA: initiation complexes are readily formed with T7 mRNA also in the absence of IF-3, whereas the formation of these complexes with phi80trp mRNA almost completely depends on the presence of this factor.

Coliphages↗

Purification and characterization of an endonuclease from calf thymus acting on irradiated DNA.

An endonuclease acting on DNA exposed to ultraviolet light or gamma-rays has been extensively purified from calf thymus. The enzyme has a pH optimum at pH 7.0-7.5, acts with equal efficiency in the presence of EDTA or divalent cations (Mg-2+ or Ca-2+), is inhibited by NaCl and tRNA and is inactivated by incubation at 50 degrees C. Its molecular weight, determined by Sephadex chromatography or sodium dodecylsulfate gel electrophoresis, is approx. 30 000. The enzyme catalyzes the formation of breaks with 5'-phosphate termini in double-stranded DNA irradiated with ultraviolet or gamma-rays. It does not act on unirradiated DNA or denatured DNA. Since in all these properties the enzymatic activity on ultraviolet- and gamma-irradiated DNA behaved similarly and since the two activities cochromatographed in all systems used during purification, we conclude that they are associated with the same protein. The site of action of the enzyme in ultraviolet-irradiated DNA is a photoproduct other than pyrimidine dimers. Such a photoproduct can also be induced by irradiation of the DNA in vivo, i.e. within the cells.

Animals↗

Molecular misreading: a new type of transcript mutation expressed during aging.

Dinucleotide deletions (e.g. DeltaGA, DeltaGU) are created by molecular misreading in or adjacent to GAGAG motifs of neuronal mRNAs. As a result, the reading frame shifts to the +1 frame, and so-called "+1 proteins" are subsequently synthesized. +1 Proteins have a wild-type N-terminus, but an aberrant C-terminus downstream from the site of the dinucleotide deletion. Molecular misreading was discovered in the rat vasopressin gene associated with diabetes insipidus and subsequently in human genes linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD), e.g. beta amyloid precursor protein (betaAPP) and ubiquitin-B (UBB). Furthermore, betaAPP(+1) and UBB(+1) proteins accumulate in the neuropathological hallmarks (i.e. in the tangles, neuritic plaques, and neuropil threads) of AD. As these +1 proteins were also found in elderly nondemented controls, but not in younger ones (<51 years), molecular misreading in nondividing cells might act as a factor that only becomes manifest at an advanced age. Frameshift mutations (UBB(+1)) and pretangle staining (Alz-50 and MC1) seem to occur independently of each other during early stages of AD. We recently detected +1 proteins, not only in proliferating cells present in non-neuronal tissues such as the liver and epididymis, but also in neuroblastoma cell lines. These observations suggest that molecular misreading is a general source of transcript errors that are involved in cellular derangements in various age-related pathologies.

Aging↗